Our Trip ended back at JFK after a stop in Delhi

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1 Our Trip ended back at JFK after a stop in DelhiOur Trip started at JFK to MumbaiNext we took at train to Orissa & was there 4 days before driving back to CalcuttaWe then flew to Kerala; spent 3 days thereFrom there we flew to Calcutta; spent 3 days there

2 Inhabited for over 5000 years Small principalities prior to British ruleFormed only 60 years British DepartureEast & West Pakistan were carved out of the partitioning of the India sub continent…E. Pakistan became Bangladesh which to this day contributes to the Pakistan-India friction28 states & 7 territories set mostly along language lines

3 Major Indian ReligionsHindu80.5%Muslim13.4%other1.8%Sikh1.9%Christian2.4%12th largest3rd largest

4 India factoids 12th largest economy 7th largest country (area)~ 1/3 USA25% live below poverty line-and its NOT the USA definition!!

6 Major Indian LanguagesHindi41.2%Bengali8.1%Telugu7.2%Urdu5.0%other5.5%Maithili1.2%Gujarati4.5%Malayalam3.2%Punjabi2.8%Assamese1.3%OriyaKannada3.7%Marathi7.0%Tamil5.9%13The state languages we visited are circled in RED

10 Formed in 193637 Million people – slightly more than California60,000 sq-mi Slightly larger than Georgia63% literate47% live below poverty lineOriya is main language22% of population is“Tribal”infant mortality rate of 6.5%OrissaMogul Empire was a Persian, Islamic imperial power that ruled the Indian subcontinent until the British arrival in the 1700’s

11 But the drive back was even more “FUN”!!Train ride from Calcutta (Kolkata) to Belasore (Balashwar): 3.5 long hours!But the drive back was even more “FUN”!!

12 Orissa Religious Strife: 2008According to All India Christian Council, the 2008 violence affected in 14 districts out of 30 and 300 Villages, 4,400 Houses burnt, 50,000 Homeless, 59 People killed including at least 2 pastors, 10 Priests/Pastors/Nuns injured, 18,000 Men, women, children injured, 2 women gang-raped including a nun, 151 Churches destroyed and 13 Schools and colleges damagedHindu nationalist groups have blamed the violence on the issue of religious conversion. clashes are long-simmering tensions between equally impoverished groups: the Kandha tribe, who are 80% of the poor, and the Pana The Panas have converted to Christianity in large numbers and prospered financiallyConversions have been legislated by the provisions of the Freedom of Religion Acts, replicated in some of the states in India. Orissa was the first state of independent India to enact legislation on religious conversions. The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967, stipulates that no person shall “convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to another by the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means-from Wikipedia